German title: Rückkehr der Seelen
translation: Return of the Soul
French title: Le pré où je suis mort
translation: The Prairie Where I Died
US Airdate: November 3, 1996
writers: Glen Morgan and Jim Wong
director: Rob Bowman
STARRING:
David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully
Guest Cast:
KRISTEN CLOKE as Melissa Riedal-Ephesian
MICHAEL DOBSON as BATF Agent
MICHAEL MASSEE as Vernon Ephesian
LES GALLAGHER as the attorney
DOUG ABRAHAMS as Harbaugh
DONNA WHITE as the therapist
ANTHONY HARRISON as Agent Riggins
DOUGLAS ROY DACK as Mighty Man
AGENTS MULDER AND SCULLY INVESTIGATE EVIL GOINGS-ON AT A CULT COMPOUND
Agent Mulder's search for an informant inside a cult compound leads to a suspect to
whom he may have an unexpectedly close personal connection.
Apison, Tennessee, once the site of a Civil War battle, is now the home of the Temple
of the Seven Stars, a doomsday religious cult that believes in reincarnation. A member
named "Sidney" calls the FBI with accusations of child abuse and weapons
stockpiling. Fearing another Waco or Jonestown, the BATF and the FBI lead a joint raid on
the compound. No weapons are found. Neither is Vernon Ephesian, the cult's dangerously
charismatic leader, who dominates his followers with a mix of Biblical prophecy, New Age
channeling and old-fashioned intimidation. An odd compulsion leads Mulder to search a
nearby field where he finds an underground Civil War bunker concealing Ephesian and his
six wives--all on the verge of committing mass suicide. One of the wives, Melissa, catches
Mulder's attention. She feels somehow familiar to him. Ephesian, his wives and the
cultists are taken into custody. But with no evidence of abuse or illegal weapons, the FBI
can hold them for only one day. Mulder and Scully are assigned to interrogate Ephesian and
his wives. Preaching fire and brimstone, Ephesian admits nothing. Melissa is a different
story. Under questioning, this withdrawn and hostile girl suddenly shifts personalities
into the mysterious informant Sidney, a gruff male New Yorker. But somehow Mulder knows
Melissa's case is even more unusual than Multiple Personality Disorder. He is certain that
"Sidney" is one of Melissa's past lives. Scully, who has a hard enough time with
MPD let alone reincarnation, can't understand why Mulder is so obsessed with Melissa, and
so certain he is right. Then comes a revelation that surprises even Mulder. Melissa shifts
into yet another identity: a Civil War nurse named Sarah Kavanaugh. She tells them she
watched as her fiancee Sullivan Biddle died in the aftermath of the long-ago battle. And
that Biddle is one of Mulder's past lives. Mulder unconditionally believes her.
Desperate to discover the truth...Mulder has himself regressed. Scully listens as
Mulder cycles through a series of his past lives. He says that same souls reincarnate
together over and over again: he, Samantha, Scully, even the Cigarette-Smoking Man are
destined to play out many lifetimes together. Melissa and Mulder are soulmates...fated
always to be star-crossed lovers. The current Melissa hears Mulder's story, but she won't
allow herself to believe. She returns to Ephesian. Scully doesn't know what to
think--especially when she discovers photographs of Sarah and Sullivan in historical
archives. After Ephesian and his cultists are released, everyone's worst fears come true.
Ephesian leads the cult in a mass suicide. Mulder discovers the body of
Melissa...clutching the photograph of Sarah Kavanaugh in her hand.
Notes
The name Vernon Ephesian, the guy who seems very similar to
David Koresh, actually comes from Koresh's real first name, Vernon.
The name of the soldier Mulder was in his his past life, Sullivan Biddle, is very
similar to the name Sullivan Ballou who was a real soldier during the Civil War, a major
with the Second Rhode Island Volunteers, according to Ken Burns' "Civil War"
which has been shown many times on PBS. One of the most poignant parts of this documentary
was a letter that Sullivan wrote to his young bride describing his everlasting love for
her. For your enjoyment, and with mucho thanks to Laura Abel (dable@iglou.com) for
transcribing it, here's the letter:
July the 14th, 1861
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sarah,
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow. And
lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel compelled to write a few lines that
may fall onto your eye when I am no more. I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence
in the cause in which I am engaged. And my courage does not halt or falter. I know how
American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the government. And how great a debt we
owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I
am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this
government. And to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that
nothing but omnipotence can break. And yet, my love of country comes over me like a strong
wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all
the blistful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me and I feel most deeply
greatful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to
give them up and burn to ashes the hopes in future years when, God willing, we might still
have lived and loved together and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood around us.
If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you. Nor that when my
last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many
faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes
been.
But, oh Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those
they love, I shall always be with you in the brightest day and the darkest night. Always.
Always. And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath. Or the cool air
your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not morn me dead, think
I am gone and wait for me. For we shall meet again.
Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the first battle of Bull Run.
The poem Mulder reads at the beginning and end of this ep from "Paracelsus"
by Robert Browning:
Mulder's version:
At times I almost dream
I too have spent a life the Sages way
And tread once more familiar paths
Perchance I've perished in an arrogant self-reliance an age ago
And in that act of prayer for one more chance went up so earnest
So...
Instinct with better light let in by death
That life was blotted out not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it to remain dim memories
As now one seems
Once more the goal in sight again.
Browning's version:
For me, I estimate their works and them
So rightly, that at times I almost dream
I too have spent a life the sages' way.
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light led in by death,
That life was blotted out--not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again. All which, indeed,
Is foolish, and only means--the flesh I wear,
The earth I tread, are not more clear to me
Than my belief, explained to you or no.
Quotes
____________________
Melissa: (as Sarah to Mulder in the field) "I was here. As were you. This is the
field where I watched you die."
Mulder: "You - you were there, Scully! You saw it, you heard it, why can't you
feel it? How could I know about a bunker in a field where I've never been?"
Scully: "Then why is it that Vernon Ephesian is reported by you a paranoid
sociopath because he believes he lived in Greece a hundred years ago, and you're not
because you died in that field?"
"Ghetto streets. Shattered glass. Bodies of the dead. I'm a woman. Jewish woman.
Poland. My son is with me. He is Samantha... My father, he's dead in the street. He is
Scully... An officer (Gestapo). He is Cancerman. Evil returns as evil... My husband is
taken away from me. He is Melissa..."
As Sullivan Biddle: "My sergeant is also dead. He is Scully."